The Simplicity of the Gospel – Pastor Jim Scudder, Jr.

But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:3

Growing up, I loved Abbott and Costello. My favorite routine was “Who’s on First?”. As Bud tries to tell Lou about his team, Lou can’t seem to understand that the first baseman’s name is “Who.” As Bud goes on, Lou gets more and more confused and frustrated over who is playing first base. As funny as this is, there is something practical we can learn from this.

The mentality of the lost person is like Lou Costello’s in “Who’s on First?”. We are told in Ephesians 4:18 that the lost have their understanding darkened; they are alienated through ignorance, and their hearts are blind. The devil is doing everything he can in order to keep them in the dark. How can we reach them? It’s only by sharing the light of the gospel with them in a clear and simple manner. We need to present the gospel in a way that even Lou Costello could understand.

We have been entrusted with the gospel. It is so valuable, so wonderful, and so magnificent yet so simple. The gospel is not complex; it’s not hard to believe. The gospel is even able to be understood by children. Throughout Scripture, God has presented the gospel so clearly that it cannot be misunderstood. John 3:16, Ephesians 2:8-9, Romans 6:23, 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 and so many others boil the gospel down to the essentials. If we take what they say at face value, it is clear that salvation is through faith apart from works and available to all.

The devil wants us to depart from the simplicity of the gospel. He wants the gospel to be polluted, added to, changed, and complicated. He wants us to make the gospel complex.

If you look at gospel tracts, you will find some tracts start out well, but when they get to the invitation, they add things that are not part of the gospel. We need to think about what we are telling the lost. Salvation isn’t about confessing sins; it’s about trusting Christ. Salvation is apart from anything we can offer God; we do not need to promise we will follow Him. It’s silly that we are telling people to make themselves acceptable to Christ. When we tell people to forsake their sins to obtain salvation, it implies works.

We are commanded to go and preach the gospel. The mind of the lost is simple, so the message we bring them needs to be simple. Let’s not corrupt the message by making it more complex than it is.